Iraqi Air Force prepares gift for Saddam (and it's not a cake)

Al Bawaba, the Middle East Gateway ^ | May 16 2002

[knighthawk]

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein told the commander of the Iraqi air force that a soldier chooses to die in defense of his country, newspapers reported Wednesday.

"Martyrdom in defense of the homeland is the soldier's choice," the papers quoted the Iraqi leader as telling General Hamed Raja Shallah, who briefed him on "the latest scientific and technological achievement" of air force pilots and engineers, they said, cited by AFP.

The papers did not reveal the nature of the "achievement," reporting only that air force personnel had dedicated it to the president on the occasion of his 65th birthday on April 28.

The unspecified "gift" was offered to Saddam earlier this week by Military Industrialization Minister Abdul Tawab Mulla Howeish, who told him "it was not the first and would not be the last," according to the papers.

"The military is for the brave, not the cowards," Saddam said at the meeting with the air force chief.

The Iraqi president has been holding successive meetings with high-ranking officials and army officers amidst United States threats to attack Iraq and seek to overthrow his regime.

[knighthawk]

Rumor: Iraq Preparing Suicide Missions in Case of U.S. Attack; Israel Nuclear Reactor – Top Priority
The Islamic Legitimacy of The "Martyrdom Operations"

[knighthawk]

Ping

[operation clinton cleanup]

More long range drop tanks so they can fly to Iran again in case of U.S. attack.

[Bobby777]

General Hamed Raja Shallah, who briefed him on "the latest scientific and technological achievement" of air force pilots

TRANSLATION: The Iraqi pilots have now learned to eject *before* the missile hits and are more capable of flying the remaining aircraft to Iran due to more precise navigation advances ...

[Bobby777]

hehe ... you had the same idea I had ...

[TADSLOS]

The latest Iraqi fad. Suicide by takeoff. Crashes mandatory. Aeronautical charts for Iran bring big money on EBay.

[shadowman99]

The unspecified "gift" was offered to Saddam earlier this week by Military Industrialization Minister Abdul Tawab Mulla Howeish, who told him "it was not the first and would not be the last," according to the papers.

This paragraph reads like Saddam has aquired WOMD.

[Mitchell]

General Hamed Raja Shallah... briefed him [Saddam] on "the latest scientific and technological achievement" of air force pilots and engineers....

The papers did not reveal the nature of the "achievement," reporting only that air force personnel had dedicated it to the president on the occasion of his 65th birthday on April 28.

The unspecified "gift" was offered to Saddam earlier this week by Military Industrialization Minister Abdul Tawab Mulla Howeish, who told him "it was not the first and would not be the last," according to the papers.

Does anyone have any clues on the direction of recent Iraqi research -- something that Air Force pilots and engineers would be involved in? (What comes to mind is a spraying system for chemical or biological weapons, but this is a wild guess.)

[NorCoGOP]

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein told the commander of the Iraqi air force that a soldier chooses to die in defense of his country, newspapers reported Wednesday. "Martyrdom in defense of the homeland is the soldier's choice,"

Well, it sure would be rude of us NOT to grant them their wish....bring it on!

[Ben Ficklin]

PBS Frontline is re-showing "Gunning for Saddam" tonight. Originally shown last fall.

[Howie66]

Evidently the Iraqi Air Force remembers the last time that they went nose to nose with the USAF. It wasn't pretty for them then, and it won't be any better this next go round.

LET'S ROLL!!!

[Balata]

Maybe they think they have perfected the delivery system?

[aShepard]

Martyrdom in defense of the homeland is the soldier's choice,"

Excellent, crash your jet and take that out of action. After ten raghead pilots die, with their planes out of action, Saddam has no more airforce.

Works for me

[Warren]

They just discovered that a round shape enables objects to move over
ground if the round object can be build & attached to a cart.
Going to let Saddam name this new object.

[Mitchell]

Maybe they think they have perfected the delivery system?

Maybe. (I'm thinking of anthrax here, or possibly some other biological or chemical weapon.)

If this involves their air force, as such, then we're looking at battlefield use or an attack on Israel; the U.S. is too far away. Of course, they could go back to the idea of using American cropdusters against U.S. targets. Maybe Mohamed Atta was doing some advance legwork on availability and the like.

All this talk of martyrdom makes one think of suicide missions. If Saddam Hussein wastes a trained pilot and possibly an expensive plane on a suicide mission, it must be for something with very large destructive potential.

On the other hand, maybe he's just blowing smoke. Remember the mother of all battles that he threatened in 1991? It didn't turn out that way at all.

[Ranger]

Could be a UAV

[sheik yerbouty]

A camel.

[BlackVeil]

"Remember the mother of all battles that he threatened in 1991? It didn't turn out that way at all." Don't you realise all that was a great Iraqi victory? It seems to me that you haven't been listening to the Great Leader's Speeches.

[Balata]

ROTFLMAO! An example of high tech coming full circle.

[BlackVeil]

"the direction of recent Iraqi research ... pilots and engineers would be involved in ... a spraying system for chemical or biological weapons ... " Apparently this is a most difficult issue in military technology. John & Karl Mueller had an article in "Foreign Affairs", vol 78 no 3 1999, and they said that "For best results biological weapons need to be dispersed in very low-altitude aersol clouds, which is very difficult to do. Explosive methods of disperson, moreover, may destroy the organisms. And except for anthrax spores, long-term storgae of lethal organisms in bombs or warheards is diffcult; even if refrigerated, most have a limited lifetime."

The same article states that chemical weapons don't kill large numbers of people unless delivered in vast quantities and in optimum conditions. It cites examples from the Japanese sarin attacks, and gassing of unprotected Iranian troops by Iraq in 1987 (although devestated, the Iranians managed to hold many positions). But I have some reservations about this argument - I think that chemical weapons were very effective and terrorised the Iranians, especially as it was backed up by the threat of a missile full of nerve gas in central Tehran. Iran eventually gave in before these threats and agreed to a disadvantageous peace.